Pakistan desires peace with India but not at expense of Kashmiris: FM Qureshi
Qureshi said Pakistan will continue to lend moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiris
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said Pakistan desires peace with India but not at the expense of Kashmiris.
Addressing a seminar in Islamabad on Wednesday, he said the world community must exhort India to treat Kashmiris like human beings.
He said India should rescind its unilateral steps and all related instruments of oppression and state terrorism in the illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
The foreign minister urged India to respect the UN Security Council resolutions and let the Kashmiri people exercise their right to self-determination. This, he said, will unlock the potential of South Asia.
Qureshi said Pakistan will continue to lend moral, political and diplomatic support to Kashmiri people.
He mentioned that the resolutions of the UNSC, at which India covets a permanent seat, were cast aside and no tool of cruelty was deemed excessive by the world s so-called largest democracy. The foreign minister said two years on, the Kashmiris continued to languish in the "largest concentration camp on the planet".
"On top of that, they are being held incommunicado. They do not have access to regular or even emergency medical facilities, a plight not shared even by the worst criminals," he stressed. He said even COVID-19, which generated unprecedented empathy in the human race, had done nothing to bring even an iota of relief to the Kashmiris.
India, he said, was trying to eliminate Kashmiris altogether as the young men were disappearing without a trace. New domicile rules and land laws had been thrust upon the Kashmiris to re-engineer IIOJK s demography, he added. "In its delusion of grandeur, India expected the world and more pertinently Pakistan, to acquiesce," he said.
Qureshi said Pakistan, guided by the clarity of Prime Minister Imran Khan s vision, stood its ground and focused on rousing the international community. "I am happy to note that our efforts have not been in vain. The Security Council has discussed the Jammu & Kashmir dispute thrice since August 2019," he said.
